Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

It's time to mute Jason Whitlock's comments about racism

I need an automatic mute button to silence Jason Whitlock

Whitlock, a talking head for Fox Sports, has found a niche
in offering a perspective that nurtures post-racism rhetoric.

In July 2016, Whitlock attacked members of Black Lives
Matter.

“As an African-American, again, I’ve had problems with the
police, and my family lost someone we loved dearly to excessive police force.
But, the conversation about police brutality is a lie and dishonest,” Whitlock
said, “ You’re more likely as African-Americans to be damn near struck by
lightning than to be killed by the police, and no one can have that
conversation. And we’re killing ourselves in our own communities, and no one
can have that conversation.”

Shaun King, columnist for the New York Daily News, was confronted
by Whitlock for an expose on the handling of a sexual harassment allegation
against Peyton Manning when he was a student at the University of Tennessee.

“First of all, he’s white and presenting himself as black.
He said that as a child in high school he was allegedly attacked by a group of
white people because he was black,” Whitlock said about King. “Well, he wasn’t
black and there were people saying that wasn’t why he was attacked and there’s
no proof of it.”

King responded on Twitter with accusing Whitlock of
“cooning” for money and calling him a “Tom ass bastard.”

Truth is, @WhitlockJason has mainly kept a job because he’s
the guy white folk use to throw Black leaders under the bus. Steppin fetchin.

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) February 17, 2016

@WhitlockJason the most relevant you’ve been in YEARS is
when you are selling me or @deray or Beyonce out this week. Tom ass bastard.

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) February 17, 2016

White media has ALWAYS made room for a tom or two who will
go on TV or radio and call Black leaders racists. Now they call us
“race-baiters”

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) February 17, 2016

King made an extra hole for Whitlock’s digestive system.

Last month, Charlamagne tha God, co-host of the nationally-syndicated
radio show "The Breakfast Club", named Whitlock “donkey of the day”
for defending Kristine Leahay when she attacked LaVar Ball.

Whitlock is “that guy”. He’s the black guy sanctioned to say
what white people want to hear. He’s the black kid embraced for “not being like
other black people”. He called Colin Kaepernick “Martin Lither King conrow” and
said LeBron James won the genetic lottery.

He’s the black guy that black folks refuse to call black.

Recently, Whitlock came after LeBron again during an
appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd . He was there to discuss comments
James made regarding a person spray-paining “Nigger” on the gates of his Los
Angeles home.

“I think it is a disrespectful inconvenience for LeBron
James," Whitlock said. "He allegedly had the n-word spray-painted on
his $20 million Brentwood home. He wasn't there. His family wasn't there. He
heard about it."

"Racism is an issue in America but is primarily an
issue for the poor. It's not LeBron James' issue," Whitlock said. "He
has removed himself from the damages and the ravages of real racism. He may
have an occasional disrespectful interaction with someone, a disrespectful
inconvenience."

There’s more.

"LeBron needs to quit embracing his victimhood because
he's not a victim and it's a terrible message for black people," Whitlock
said.

“I used to be a black kid and [people would say racist slurs
to me]. It wasn’t that big of a deal. If someone denies you an opportunity —
you can’t go to school here, you can’t have this, you can’t have that — that is
the impact of racism. LeBron was inconvenienced. Racism affects the poor. For
him to sit there and say, ‘No matter where you are, it’s tough being black in
America’? It ain’t tough being LeBron James. It ain’t tough being Oprah
Winfrey.”

Whitlock argues racism can’t be experienced if you’re
wealthy; therefore, people like James should avoid all conversations involving
race.

Whitlock is evoking language that demands silence among
those with economic privilege. In his
opinion, the only people qualified to speak about racism are people wounded by
economic restriction. Black people of privilege have achieved at a level that
helps them transcend the burden of racism.

This is the type of code language used by conservative white
people to dismiss assumptions of privilege and race. If racism is merely a
construction of economic disparity, then overcoming the implications of racism
becomes the responsibility of the poor. Those who continue to be maligned by
racism are suffering due to an inability to pull themselves up from those
bootstraps, while black people like LeBron need to avoid language that foster
victimhood.

If one of the benefits of success is the avoidance of racism,
we live in a society with the assumption that some people matter more than
others. Whitlock argues on behalf of social arrangements that reflect an
expanding value gap among black people.

Rich black people don’t suffer from racism. Some black
people are worth more than others to the extent that they overcome the burden
of racism. James suffers the inconvenience of paying someone to remove “nigger”
from the gate, but it’s not racism. It’s only racism when it involves a person
who is poor.

Whitlock’s views avoid a long history in which black people
are denied access due to racism. There are numerous lessons regarding black
people of middle and upper class status who were denied access due to their
race.

It happened in 2013 when Oprah was denied entry into Hermes,
a Swiss luxury goods store in Paris. It happened in 1999 when Danny Glover
filed a formal complaint against the Taxi and Limousine Commission for
discriminating against African-American passengers like him, who were routinely
bypassed by cab drivers.

Rose, the mother of Chris Rock accused a Cracker Barrel
restaurant in South Carolina of discriminating against her in 2006. She alleges
the staff went out of its way to delay service. Henry “Skip” Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher,
Jr. University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African &
African American Research at Harvard University, was stopped for walking into
his own house.

When Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney general, and
President Barack Obama discussed being racially profiled, they conceded the
emotions related to being inconvenienced. Whitlock is correct in highlighting the
aggravation related to paying someone to wash that word from the gate. It’s
true that LeBron has the money to get the job done. It’s one of the privileges
associated with making all that cash.

Being rich is no protection from the emotions stirred by
racist acts. It’s troubling to negate the impact of racist acts based on what
is perceived as no more than an inconvenience for those with the money to make
it go away.

Whitlock is that dude.

He doesn’t get it.

I recommend he read Ellis Cose’s book “The Rage of the
Privileged Class.” There are numerous stories about black people with loads of
money who are mad.

Great points that deserve my response. Keep in mind that's something I rarely do. In this case, there's enough quality in your response to merit a counter statement.

You're right in asserting the absence of a black monolithic community. AS much as that is true, this post was written with that very thing in mind. My point? The absence of a universal black think agenda in no way suggest a repudiation of the need for such a statement. Why is that? There is both historical and contemporary credence that supports a unified approach in the way black people communicate messages involving racism. Anything other than that shifts both the political and cultural nuances related to being black in America. Critical in all of that is finding ways to offer space for varied voices while conceding universal truths that elevated a collective vision.

Those statements should be measured in research that ponders history and the evidence of critical race theory. Thus, although Whitlock has the right to tote his message on Fox, it is as important that black people call him to task in advocating an approach that isn't embraced by the collective voices of black people. Why is that important? Because race and racism is something we overcome together. None of us experience it in a vacuum, and people like Whitlock need to be called to task for presenting a message that fails to reflect the experiences of the masses of black people who continue to endure racism.

Again, the damage of racism is never held as an individual's issue. It belongs to the entire community of subjugated people; thus, the message of Whitlock impacts all of us. Overcoming it all can never be sacrificed by allowing a person like Whitlock to speak on behalf of the rest. He has that right, and the village has the right to call him on that message.

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina